Lucas Sighs And Rubs His Face.

Lucas watches them for a quiet moment then nods.

"Okay, makes sense. Do you remember anything right before? Or right after? Where you were, what you were doing, any notable things in your surroundings?"

He tries to be slow and patient, but Elm is the first person he's gotten to interview that got taken and came back alive.

"IF THEY WANTED ME TO REMEMBER THEN I WOULD ." there's no hesitation in elm's answer . they toy with their laces . " just like if they wanted to kill me then they would have ." they glance up at him before shrugging, " ... but they don't want me to remember so i don't . and they didn't want to kill me so they didn't ."

Lucas actually pouts and slumps deeper into this seat. He feels like a reprimanded child, and he deserves it, but he doesn't have to like it.

But he doesn't have to make Becca suffer with him.

"I don't suppose you're also a meteorologist and can explain this storm at all?"

finally, he's convinced. becca sighs in relief, knowing that it was difficult for lucas to ignore his sense of duty. it wouldn't have been much longer before she tied him to a table if he had continued the argument. she tries to give a reassuring smile, but remains stern when she speaks. "you'll have to."

she returns to her own seat, watching as he struggles with the gravity of his situation and comes to accept it. "when the storm is done, the first place you're going is to the infirmary. you need a real treatment and whatever they say, is what you're going to do. until then, stay off it." and if he's lucky, they might even have crutches available.

Lucas nods toward the dried up bouquet and watches Hollis pick up.

Before he can walk away though, Lucas speaks up.

"Actually," he says, voice trembling slightly. "Could you..."

His voice trails off. He's not sure what he wants Hollis to do but at the moment, he doesn't want to be alone.

Hollis kneels beside the headstone, fingers tracing the edge of the carved lettering. His tools, a small brush and cloth, rest on the ground next to him, though his works seems more like a ritual than any overly needed maintenance. Hearing Lucas' steps, he straightens up, but doesn't turn right away, eager to finish what he's doing. Eventually he stops, lifting his tools and placing them back onto his toolbelt before finally looking over at Lucas, his face a strange mix of distant yet observant. "If you want me to...I can give you some space." He finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper, afraid to disturb the air. He gestured with a small wave of his hand to the marigolds in Lucas' hand. "Or, I can replace those for you? Out with the old..." His fingers spread out into a small claw, waiting for permission to remove any old flowers from the site.

Tanner Buchanan | Behind The Blinds (2021)

Lucas looks up from the list he'd been writing out of things to do after the storm ends. If it even ends.

He shakes his head at his deputy.

"Sorry. No smokes for me. As for options, it looks pretty slim pickings right now."

He gestures over the bar to where there's notably no one working right now.

open to all. location: motel bar

A job of a deputy included a lot of risks, more than he'd ever imagined outside of Oz. But the blood stained uniform covered in heavy rain, leaving a trail of water behind him as he approached the Motel bar, was enough to showcase just how done he'd been with all the risk taking for one night. He was not fucking paid for this, or trained for this, and being outside right now? Running blind? It was nothing short of a death wish. "What we havin'?" question is directed to his right and he'll take out a pack of cigarettes now fully soaked through. "Fuck...you got a smoke? Preferably dry?"

Adrien sits quietly, reminiscing on the few memories he still has of his parents. One such from the day they'd died. They'd spent the day attempting to fish in a river similar to this one. Since Adriennwas 10, he was obviously terrible at it, and he'd had his parents clutching their sides in laughter from his attempts. It had been on the way back when it had happened.

Adrien looks up and smiles when he sees it's Muz talking.

"Oh hey," he greets though it's not a peppy or bright as he usually is. "El made me take the day off, and I wasn't feeling up for hanging at the colony house. Not having much luck on the getting-a-boyfriend front and everyone else was busy, so... yeah, getting lost felt like a good way to pass the time."

He looks back toward the horizon and swings his leg, his big toe skimming the surface of the cool, clear water.

"What about you? What brings you to getting lost territory?"

river banks, adrien. @patroclusblossom

He's found himself on more walks than ever since arriving in Oblitus. The river banks became a quick favourite. Muz leans against dock, watching the ripples of the river. The sun threatens to start its slow descent but he sees Adrien sitting near the edge, one leg hanging over the side, staring out at the horizon like he had all the time in the world. The usual energy that Adrien carried seemed to be gone today, replaced by something quieter.

He pushes off the post and steps down the dock, boots making soft thuds as he moves closer to where Adrien sits. 'Not a bad place for getting lost,' Muz says, his voice breaking the silence. 'What’s got you out here?'

where: colony house when: Halloween night whom: @rampents Catie

Adrien stumbles out of a bathroom, shaking his hands to finish drying them. He's having way too much fun for what everyone seems to think Oblitus should be.

He's about to head back to the dance floor when he notices someone chilling on the floor, not really paying attention to her surroundings.

Not one to let someone stay alone for too long, Adrien runs then slides on his knees, stopping right in front of her.

"Hey, there, I'm Adrien. Want some company?"

where: colony house when: Halloween night whom: @hcartcorruptcd El

Adrien moves through the house, taking a break from dancing to find people he knows.

He's spotted and chatted with a few but there's one in particular...

There they are.

He grins and runs up to El. He throws his arms around them in a huge hug.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," he says excitedly.

Lucas raises an eyebrow. Ana had said the talk with Cam had gone... as well as can be expected for the two women.

"I can do that, but I'm still going to tell her what's going on. She'd skin me alive if I didn't."

He can see on Cam's face that she's in the same emotional boat as Ana; which is to say: an old dinghy that's got more leaks than boards in the middle of the ocean.

"Maybe I should just take this all to Santi," he tries, testing how Cameron will react. He reaches for the folders he'd just placed down.

cameron nodded, "yeah, i have a feeling that the next few days are going to have a lot of work in store for us." they've never seen a storm like this before, who knows what slipped through the cracks when they were all locked inside for twelve hours. there were bound to be things they missed and wont even know about until they do a full count of everything in town. more work. "no let's just keep focusing on keeping everyone calm. no need to scare anyone and have people panicking." she could only imagine how some people would react if they saw the deputies doing rounds and watching them. "but hey, um, if something big comes up, can you come to me or santiago first? ana...she's dealing with a lot right now, i don't want too much going on her plate." she thought back to the things she told her at the bar and how defeated she was about everything. she wasn't sure what was going on between them but she will always look out for her wife.

Lucas takes a deep breath before he starts talking.

"I mean, I was running around town, seeing what needed repairs, checking that people were okay and not trapped anywhere. Not to mention wrangling the deputies to do their jobs."

Lucas smiles. A lot of people say they're glad he's here, but it feels a little different — a bit better — coming from Bruna.

"He was a better hunter than me," he says. "And he was way funnier. Got him more dates in high school than I did, though coming out of the closet did change my odds slightly."

He chuckles.

"And he may have been younger, but he showed me how to be a good son to our parents. He seemed to always know what to do and helped me when I didn't."

He wipes some tears away and looks back to Bruna.

"What about your sister. What was she like?"

"We did miss you at dinner, now that you mention it. Had your hands full today, huh?" she gets up on her feet, preparing to makeshift a sandwich. "Tell me about it. Your day. It's what normal people do, right? Out in the real world. I forget sometimes how simple things used to be -- how we took such things for granted. Or, well, I did anyway..." she was often uncomfortable with silence when in company, so questions came almost naturally, as did the thoughts and loud observations. "Rae and Ana will be alright...don't even let your head go there. We have just enough worry in us for things that are real to also venture into those that aren't." it's something she learnt the hard way, even if she did worry daily about all the things that could possibly go wrong. She tried not to voice them -- for the most part. "I lost my sister too. In here. I'm sorry that happened to you -- but, in a weird fucked up way, I'm glad you're here. We're all better off with you around." words of comfort came almost natural to her these days, it's like nothing regarding loss was even surprising anymore. "What was he like? Your brother?"